Not quite as long as the first chapter BUT IT WAS THE BEST I COULD DO without revealing too much OTL''
ANYWAY I'M SORRY I DIDN'T UPDATE SOONER I REALLY AM SORRY, but I've been kind of busy with homework and RPing and such. Please excuse me. ;w;
Warnings: Cursing on Cross's behalf. Kanda does not make an appearance until later, so the other redhead is filling in for him. Also some angst sprinkled around the edges.
OH AND THIS IS UNBETA'd. If there's any mistakes I didn't catch while typing this, feel free to e-mail/tell me/PM/whatever.
Disclaimer: I WISH I OWNED -MEN. But I don't. Hoshino does.
WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, please enjoy~
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The Final Stage: Scenario 14
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Second Stage: I am one who must not forget
--
"'We're going back to the Order'.. is what you said, General—"
"I'm not a General anymore, Myria."
She ignores him. "—but how do you plan to get past the gatekeeper?"
Allen shrugs, nibbling on a Polish hotdog, one of many that he's holding, as they wait in the station for the next train to arrive. "The Ark. I'll use that."
"But, my lord—"
"It's just Allen, Myria."
"—you can't make a gate to a place you've never been to before.. can you?"
Allen smiles, though rather grimly and not very happily. "I can now, Myria."
She watches the Noah-in-disguise as he stands up. The train pulls in and empties out rather quickly, and they board it afterward.
"Then couldn't we use the Ark to go there right now?"
"We're not at that stage yet. I've something else planned out, but I'm still working on it."
They head straight for the first-class compartments and Allen shuts and locks the door behind them. From his pocket, Allen extracts the silver golem, Ergald, and places it on the windowsill. Timcanpy flutters around it, sunlight glinting off of its metallic wings as Ergald opens its mouth and projects an image into the air.
Cross Marian, in all of his General-y glory, is looking rather miffed on screen.
"Finally going to send me somewhere outside Japan?"
"Is that all you have to say to me, Master?" Allen smiles, eyebrow ticking rather noticeably. "A little 'hi' would suffice."
"Uh. No. I don't."
"Fine, fine." The silver-haired Exorcist-slash-Noah takes another bite out of his last hotdog and swallows it quickly. "No, you're staying in Edo, Master. You still haven't healed yet."
Cross grumbled something about being 'ordered around by little brats'.
"Anyway." Allen's forced smile drops and he's suddenly serious, and Cross knows that the time for business discussion has started. "We're commencing the Last Stage of the Earl's Scenario."
"Last Stage? Are you fucking suicidal?" Cross puts out his cigarette, something he only does when he knows he has to pay attention. "In case you haven't noticed, we've only got three Noahs, idiot apprentice, not thirteen, or however the fuck many the Earl planned to have."
"Not three, Master. We have four."
Cross snorts. "And who, pray tell, may this fourth Noah be?"
Timcanpy's role comes in here, and the golden golem is projecting another image, recordings, of a long-haired Oriental man in an Exorcist coat.
"Yuu Kanda. An Exorcist."
--
"So. Are we clear on what we have to do?"
"Hmph. Oi, Marks, you get all that?"
"I sure did. That's one hell of a plan, boss. Sure you're up to it?"
Allen smiles at the African American Exorcist-slash-Noah lingering next to Cross. "I should be asking you that, Stephen."
"Eh.. I'll be fine… I guess." Stephen laughs, always so carefree despite his past. Almost like Allen. But that was the keyword.
Almost.
"Are you sure? We could wait a little longer, for you to get a little more control over Rhode's abilities."
"I'm just psyching out over the way we heal." He shudders. "Nasty. And it's kind of hard to fight while I'm healing, too.
"Noah and Innocence don't go well together," Allen explains, as though he has experience with this sort of thing. "Try and wait until you're done fighting before you heal, if you can. So, how's Edo faring?"
"Eh, almost cleaned out. Japan's a friggin' pile of islands, so I can't ride the train everywhere, and I haven't been able to control where I land when I use the dimensional door, either."
"How long do you think it'll take?"
"Uh.. a week?"
"You have two weeks, then. That's plenty time."
"Aye, boss!"
Stephen gives a mock salute and marches out of the screen, humming a patriotic song along the way.
Cross sighs and takes another drag from the recently lit cigarette in his hand. "Well, Allen, what's next?"
"We're sending the Order a heads up. You will, that is."
Cross scoffs. "They think I'm dead, Allen. What good would sending a letter do us?"
"Nah, they don't really know.. I mean, just because you left behind a puddle of blood, Judgment, and a broken widow doesn't mean you're dead." Allen smiles, and then adds as an afterthought, "yet."
"Funny, brat. Very funny."
"Just do it," Allen says with a smile. "I'll take care of the rest, Master."
The (ex-?)General stares at him for a moment, contemplating. He's changed a lot since Cross first met him, so many years ago.
"You can stop calling me 'Master', brat. We're no longer in the Black Order. Ranking means nothing off the job."
Allen laughs, a small chuckle, but it's a relief to hear such a sound at all.
Ever since he left, ever since he disappeared, he's been looking more and more like Kanda – that is, with a permanent frown etched on his face. It was the look of one who held many burdens, one who felt like he was supporting the entire world on his shoulders.
And in Allen's case, that was pretty much the truth.
But with Kanda.. well, it wasn't that far off.
"When did we ever resign from our positions, Master?" Allen inquires with a light shrug. "As far as I know, we're only considered missing in action."
"Well, we're not exactly doing our job, either."
"But does that constitute as leaving?" The white-haired man leans against the leather cushion of his seat, hugging his knees to his chest.
Looking at him is like going back in time, seeing a child that he always has been and should still be, no matter what. A child that shouldn't be tainted by war, a child that needs to be shown love. A child.. that is no longer a child.
A child that has grown up, even when he was still a child.
"It does if you don't contact them."
"But, Master. You didn't."
"I sent letters. Occasionally. I think."
"You didn't."
Cross scoffs. "What the hell did you think I was doing while you were off paying debts?"
Allen rolls his eyes. "Blimey, I dunno, making more?"
"That wasn't the only thing I was doing."
"Oh, really?"
"Boy, I was the one who picked you up off the streets. You should be fucking grateful that I gave you something to do with your life."
"Ahem."
Allen stops in mid retort and snaps his mouth shut.
Of course.
It's not the Noahs who are acting like adults, even though one of them is an adult; it's the Akuma they've modified who keeps them in line. Without some higher power controlling them, Noahs are just like everyone else. Except for the fact that some of them have an insatiable bloodlust, while others are just plain weird.
Not to mention, they can't keep their hands from destroying Innocence.
Not that Myria is some 'higher power'. She's just reminding Allen and Cross of the reason why they're talking in the first place, and it's not to get revenge for some things from almost a decade ago.
"Right, Marian," Allen sighs, sinking back into the leather seat with a tired look. He straightens up after a moment, just as Cross does, and they're back on track for business discussions. "It turns out that you were telling the truth. There is another side to this war. Though, how you knew, I'm curious to know."
"I have my sources, brat." Cross waves a hand dismissively.
"And it's a dangerous side. Did you know that?"
"Boy," Cross leans forward in his seat, a serious look in his one visible eye. "All sides in times of war are dangerous. You'll always have an enemy, no matter which one you choose. It's all a matter of getting to them before they get to you."
"So, if this war were to be related to.. I dunno, a chess game," Allen makes vague gestures, as though drawing a box in the air. "Then the pieces would be…"
"The white King is the Pope of the Church of England. The black King.. is the Earl." The red-headed General takes a drag, exhaling the smoke off to the side. "Is that what you're thinking?"
"No, not quite." Allen states as he rummages in his suitcase (of infinite depths) for a chess board and pieces. "The pawns, of course.. Exorcists for the white, Akuma for the black. The Generals and the Noahs make up the rest of the pieces, even though there's more of them than the pieces we have available."
"But the Kings are the still the same."
"No," the boy repeats in a softer tone, holding the black Queen between his thumb and forefinger. "The Queen is the piece that can move in any direction as much as she wants. Who, on the Earl's side, is capable of such a feat, Marian?"
His answer is quizzical gaze and a shrug.
"Being able to do as they wish, no matter the consequences, the one in command of the rest, the strongest of all the pieces…"
The piece is placed in its proper place on the board with a soft clink, before being lifted and set right in front of the white King in checkmate.
"..Is the Earl."
"But, brat, in chess," Cross begins, resting his chin in his right palm. "You're not allowed to do that right off the bat. There are rules."
"This isn't chess anymore, Marian. It's a war." Allen states airily, as if it has nothing to do with him, or either of them, at all. He puts the black Queen piece back on the right side of the board. "The Earl is dead, you and I haven't reported back to the Order for a while, the Grand Generals no doubt believe I'm dead.. the sides are becoming imbalanced.
"The pawns are the Exorcists and the Akuma. The rest are the Generals and the Noah members… The Queens are the Earl.. and.. The one who can defeat him. Namely.. me."
The white Queen knocks the black one off the board and replaces it.
"But in doing so.. I'm doing the job that the Earl has not finished. And, in a war.. someone must replace the lost Queen. That person, from the Order, would be.." Allen has a small smile on his face, almost proud, yet also sad and dismayed, and he puts the black Queen next to the white King. "..Kanda. Our Noah."
"So, what, is that Asian brat gonna off you sometime in the near future?"
"… I hope not." The boy whispers softly, though he doesn't look very sad at the thought of being killed by Kanda. "I've already done my side of the Scenario." The white Queen knocks over the black King. "I have already taken out the Earl's King. All that's left.. is Kanda's job."
"To destroy the Order's 'King'," Cross scoffs again, looking none too amused at this silly rendition of the Holy War. "And who may that be?"
"Not who, Marian, but what. And what we're destroying…" Allen picks up both Kings with his cursed hand and makes a fist around them, gripping tightly, tighter, until they shatter, showering pieces of clay over the board and a small pile of dust from pieces that were pulverized.
".. Are the two halves of the Heart."
--
Their golems are starting to malfunction from the lack of attention.
Cross is a scientist, not a mechanic, and he has no idea how to fix a golem, nor does he have enough time to learn. There are no Finders with phones to use, and using a public phone is risky; the chances of the Order tracing their calls are dangerously high.
A letter – no matter how much Cross hates writing them, and no matter how much his hand fucking hurts – is their only form of communication at the moment.
Ergald's twin golem, Endlest, is the only one in the room with him. The only thing that distinguishes Ergald from Endlest, is.. well, the fact that Allen has Ergald and Cross has the other. The red-headed General has no other golems to use, and Endlest can only connect to Ergald and possibly Timcanpy, but they haven't tried it yet.
The pair of ball-like golems are the results of trying to duplicate Timcanpy, to make more golems that could react to the outside world and store items, record clips, carry out orders.. but it was a failure. Because Timcanpy is special. Timcanpy isn't just a golem, nor is it one that Cross had made – oh, sure he claims he made it, and he may as well have.
Cross knows more about Timcanpy's functions than anyone else. Aside from the golem's original owner, or course. The 14th Noah is and always will be the one person who has completely knowledge of Timcanpy, inside and out.
Sighing, the General sets down the pen and flexes the fingers of his blackened but healing hand. It hurts, and he winces, of course, but he knows that he's got no right to complain. Allen has through worse, no doubt. He probably still is.
And all Cross could do was help from the sidelines, because his stupid martyr of an apprentice refused to have any of them risk their lives for him. Even though he's doing the same thing for someone else.
Hypocrite.
"That brat is so cheeky now." The General chuckles at his choice of words, the same ones he uttered before he was nearly killed. "I… guess it wasn't so bad.. being at the Black Order."
If anything, it has helped the boy grow up emotionally, if not physically as well.
The General sighs, leaning back in his chair with a less than content expression. The injury he received not too long ago is just a reminder of what he has done and what he has yet to do, what he has to do. What they have to do.
And what the Order must do.
That's right. Those Grand Generals think they're running the show, but they're not. Not at all. Then again, Cross isn't one to talk. He's not the big boss around here. No, that used to be the Earl. Used to, but he's dead now. Dead, long gone, never to rise again.
Damned Noah finally died. (1)
No, it's not the Earl anymore.
Allen Walker is pulling the strings, Musician that he is. Playing the score, directing the symphony – leading the act.
Allen Walker in charge of carrying out the Final Stage of the Earl's Scenario.
Allen fucking Walker has been entrusted with the job to save this fucking world.
The downside?
"That fucking place has turned him into a worse martyr than that fat ass."
An exasperated sigh as he tilts his head to the side, cricking his neck in a futile attempt to get relaxed. What he wouldn't give to have a couple of women right now, a bottle of vintage Barolo (2), a comfortable leather couch, maybe a nice Persian rug…
Well, luxuries weren't really something they could afford right now, what with Allen unable to work and pay debts, Cross unable to move freely because he's supposed to be dead, and none of the Noahs can do anything about it because they're, well, Noah.
And besides. They don't have much time left--
Correction.
Allen doesn't have much time left.
Cross stares at the blood red cross – ironic, isn't it – carved onto the back of his blackened right hand. It's a reminder of he's become, what he is, what he and Allen and Marks are and what they still have to do. Abusing his powers is something he can no longer do, because this is what happens.
Crippled hand, confined to a dingy house in Japan, waiting for that hand to heal – hoping that nothing bad will happen to Allen and them before he can get back into action.
He's not regretting what he did, though. Marks would be dead if he hadn't done it, and they can't afford to lose anyone, especially not a Noah. Or at least, the Host of a Noah's memory. He's still curious as to how Marks got Rhode's memories, though. Walker won't say a fucking thing about it.
The clock ticks ominously in the background and time goes on. It's not going to stop and wait for them to get ready. Nothing will. No one's patient enough for this kind of shit.
Except Allen Walker.
Cross slides the letter into an envelope and seals it shut with a drop of hot wax, pressing a stamp into the liquid as it starts cooling and solidifying. He addresses the letter to a certain eccentric scientist and sets it down, reminding himself to find a way to get the letter sent without revealing their location.
Just a little longer, Allen. Hang on to that thin thread of life for just a little longer. We'll pull through. We'll succeed. We'll survive, Allen. And you will, too.
It's an empty prayer, to wish for the boy's survival. Cross knows this. He's aware of it, has been all along. He knows it won't be long before Allen's life runs out – again.
It won't be long before he dies for the third time in his life.
And hopefully, Cross is most definitely praying for this, his last time.
So Allen's soul can finally be put to rest.
--
Master.. he wants me to stop calling him that. Fine. I'll just call him Marian.
Marian says I should start keeping a journal. I doubt I'll write much. My memories have been fading lately, and we're hoping this will help me remember if I ever forget again.
Of course, I'm worried that I'll forget about this journal-diary altogether.
'How the mighty have fallen', is a quote I tend to ponder quite a bit. How true it is. Just look at us.
The Noahs have disbanded.
The Earl is dead.
Marian and I are.. have.. defected.. betrayed the Order..
How the mighty have fallen, indeed.
With any luck, Marian will have sent that letter. It'll arrive at the Order, where Komui will read it.. and announce my.. untimely death to the rest of them.
And then, in two weeks.. we'll send Timcampy over to start the next stage. And then it's just a matter of gathering up as many Akuma as we can into the Ark. They'll watch the clip I've programmed Tim to relay, and then he'll pretend to wait for a password.
Tim will send the live feed to Ergald within the Ark and I'll simply wait until the Akuma have been gathered. Then.. pretend that they've found the right password.. say a few words and pretend it's a recording..
I hope they fall for it. If not..
It wouldn't matter.
All we need is Kanda. Kanda.. and maybe..
Any other Hosts we can find. But Kanda is top priority, not just because I want him to be safe – though that's not too far from the truth – but because he's necessary for the Earl's Scenario to progress.
Who would've thought that stupid jerk would actually be the key to saving the world.
Paint the cross red with blood, Allen. Paint it red with your own flesh, your emotions, thoughts, and lives of those sacrificed for the war. Paint it red with your own life, Allen Walker.
Don't forget this goal. Don't forget to save the world. You don't have much time left.
So don't forget to keep on living, too.
--
I must not forget…
--
(1) In chapter 158 of the manga, Tyki refers to the Earl as human, saying '...He is human after all'.
(2) Barolo is a type of wine.
REVIEW. I BESEECH YOU TO REVIEW. It helps motivate me and tells me to update this before Experimental.
I've decided, through no influence of you readers, that I will include that night of drunk, mad, passionate sex between Allen and Kanda. IT MIGHT TAKE A WHILE TO WRITE. Do not expect anything extravagant for something such as drunk sex.
'Kanda', 'Allen', 'drunk', and 'sex' should never go the in same sentence ever again. 'Kanda' and 'passionate' does not exist, so it will not be such.
Again, I apologize for the extremely late update and lack of Valentine's Day one-shot or whatever.
P.S.: 'sex' still looks pretty damn hilarious on screen. 8DDDD